Institute for Nanotechnology and Water Sustainability

Dr I Kamika

College of Science, Engineering and Technology
Institute for Nanotechnology and Water Sustainability
Senior Lecturer
E-mail: kamiki@unisa.ac.za

Qualifications

  • DTech Water Care (Tshwane University of Technology, South Africa, 2013)
  • MTech Water Care (Tshwane University of Technology, South Africa, 2011)
  • MSc Life Science (University of South Africa, South Africa, 2010)

NRF Rating

C3

Fields of academic interests

  • Microbial diversity and environmental microbiology of extreme ecosystems (e.g. mine water, sub-soil brine, highly saline soil and water).
  • Biotechnology: Bioremediation- inorganic pollutants and persistent organic pollutants
  • Environmental pollution: Emerging organic pollutants.
  • Functional metagenomic analyses:
  • Environmental resistome: antibiotic resistance microbes and genes
  • Microbial enzyme production, organic degradation pathway
  • Enteropathogenic microbes in water and their related public health concerns.
  • Nanotechnology for wastewater treatment: Nanogenotoxicology and Nanotoxicology

Field of Specialisation

  • Water Science and Technology
  • Environmental Microbiology
  • Environmental Chemistry
  • Molecular Microbiology
  • Biotechnology

Journal articles

  1. Kasonga, T.K., Coetzee, M.A.A., Kamika, I., Ngole-Jeme, V.M., Momba, M.N.B. 2021. Endocrine-Disruptive Chemicals as Contaminants of Emerging Concern in Wastewater and Surface Water: A Review. Journal of Environmental Management 277, 111485.

  2. Kasonga, T.K., Coetzee, M.A.A., Kamika, I., Momba, M.N.B. 2020. Assessing a co-culture fungal granule ability to remove pharmaceuticals in a sequencing batch reactor, Environmental Technology. https://doi.org/10.1080/09593330.2020.1847204

  3. Mhlongo, T.N., Ogola, N.J.O., Selvarajan, R., Sibanda, T., Kamika, I., Tekere, M. 2020. Occurrence and diversity of waterborne fungi and associated mycotoxins in treated drinking water distribution system in South Africa: Implications on water quality and public health. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment. 192, 519. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-020-08477-x

  4. Weber, V., Kamika, I., Momba, M.N.B. 2020. Halophilic bacterial community and their ability to remove zinc oxide and titanium dioxide nanoparticles from wastewater. Desalination and water treatment 181:161-187.

  5. Ekwanzala, M.D., Dewar, J.B., Kamika, I., Momba, M.N.B. 2020. Genome sequence of carbapenem-resistant Citrobacter koseri carrying blaOXA-181 isolated from sewage sludge. Journal of Global Antimicrobial Resistance 20: 94-97.

  6. Ekwanzala, M.D., Dewar, J.B., Kamika, I., Momba, M.N.B. 2020. Comparative genomics of vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus spp. revealed common resistome determinants from hospital wastewater to aquatic environments. Science of The Total Environment 719: 137275.

  7. Ekwanzala, M.D., Dewar, J.B., Kamika, I., Momba, M.N.B. 2019. Tracking the environmental dissemination of carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae using whole genome sequencing. Science of The Total Environment 691: 80-92.

  8. Ramganesh Selvarajan, Timothy Sibanda, Siddardhan Venkatachalam, Ilunga Kamika, Willem AJ Nel. 2018. Industrial wastewaters harbor a unique diversity of bacterial communities revealed by high-throughput amplicon analysis. Annals of Microbiology 68(7): 445–458.

  9. Kamika, I., Azizi, S. and Tekere, M. 2018. Bacterial diversity in the full-scale enhanced biological phosphate removal reactor using 454 next generation sequencing platform. Polish Journal of Environmental Studies. 27(2):709–745.

  10. Kamika, I., Tekere, M. 2017. Impacts of cerium oxide nanoparticles on bacterial community in activated sludge. AMB Express 7(63). DOI: 10.1186/s13568-017-0365-6. ISSN: 2191-0855

Professional positions, fellowships & awards

  • Global Outreach Member, American Society for Microbiology (ASM)
  • Associate Member, Society for Applied Microbiology (SFAM)
  • Member, International Water Association (IWA)
  • Member, South Africa Society for Microbiology (SASM)
  • Member, Young Water Professional (YWP)
  • Registered Professional Natural Scientist, South African Council for National Scientific Professions (SACNASP)
  • Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of South Africa, Florida
  • CAES’s Calabash Excellence Award, University of South Africa, 2016.

Other

 Google scholar link: https://scholar.google.co.za/citations?hl=en&user=DdbFOI0AAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdate

ORCID link: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6350-2647